Episode:Shoeless Al
|image = |caption = To appear as afraid of shoes to validate an insurance claim, Al goes shoeless in a team bowling tournament in the episode "Shoeless Al" in Season 9 of MWC. |series = Married... with Children |season = 9 |episode = 25 |overall = 208 |network = FOX |airdate = May 14, 1995 |production = 9.25 |imdb = tt0642372/ |guests = Charlie Dell E.E. Bell Harold Sylvester Mary-Pat Green Michael Rothhaar Susan Varon Mike Finneran |writers = Ron Leavitt |directors = Amanda Bearse |previous = "Radio Free Trumaine" |next = "The Undergraduate" (Season 9 finale) }} Shoeless Al was the 25th episode aired in Season 9 of Married... with Children and the 208th overall series episode. Directed by Amanda Bearse and written by series co-creator Ron Leavitt, the episode originally aired on FOX, premiering on May 14, 1995. Synopsis Al's NO MA'AM team wins the bowling game with Bud as their helper. The next night Al is robbed and left with shoes. He slaps the mall with a trumped-up lawsuit saying that he has been traumatized and can't be around shoes anymore. To provide credibility to the lawsuit, he cannot wear shoes for a week. But with the bowling finals that week, he has to choose between the lawsuit and bowling. Summary In this particular episode, an insurance agent, Leslie Baum, is assigned to make sure the Al is afraid to wear shoes to collaborate his lawsuit against the mall that claims that he is afraid of shoes after being tied up by a burglar while at work. But Al must decide between the money from the settlement or winning a bowling championship when he's not allowed to bowl barefoot for a week, which includes bowling shoes during the tournament. Recurring cast/character regulars *Buck the Dog as Buck Bundy *Harold Sylvester as Griff *E.E. Bell as Bob Rooney Guest starring *Charlie Dell as Leslie Baum *Andrew Kavovit as Mark Campbell *Mary-Pat Green as Mary-Pat *Michael Rothhaar as Milt *Susan Varon as Brenda *Mike Finneran as Marv Trivia *The title refers to the legendary "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, one of the key figures in baseball's Black Sox scandal. *It is revealed in this episode that Puggy Weaver, Al's bowling nemesis from the Season 4 episode "Peggy Turns 300", died during a waffle eating competition sometime after that episode. The championship trophy for Al's bowling league is named after him. *Charlie Dell, who plays Leslie in this episode, previous appeared on MWC in season 2's "Poppy's by the Tree, Part I" and "Poppy's by the Tree, Part II". *At the championship game, Leslie tries to tempt Al with "Air Earl Anthony 5000" a reference to the Air Jordan basketball shoes and Earl Anthony, a left-handed professional bowler who is credited with increasing the popularity of the sport. *During the Championship game, the songs "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" both performed by rock group Queen can be heard. The songs were replaced by a sound-alike song for US syndication and foreign versions, but the original songs are on the DVD sets. *When Peg is watching Oprah, the show's topic is "People who survived meeting on the Jenny Jones Show" referring to an incident on the show where a gay man confessed his love to a straight man on Jenny Jones and was later murdered by the man he had declared himself to. Goofs *In one scene, Bud Bundy knocks down all the pins with one attempt. The stat sheet, however, shows neither a strike nor a nine-pin spare under his name. *At the bowling alley, Bud throws a practice ball, and it flew backwards bouncing off the ball rack and the ground. Bowling balls don't bounce. Category:Season 9 Category:MWC Episodes Category:Episodes Category:Episodes directed by Amanda Bearse